Dancing in the Rain
by Michelle Lancaster
Summary: The story of a young ranch owner, and the young woman who would change the lives of everyone she touched. Complete
1. Serenade

Disclaimer: Still don't own Zelda. Or Garth Brooks' "Every Now and Then"… It doesn't entirely fit, but it's close, and a couple of lines are just perfect.

**Dancing in the Rain**

_I walked down to the park last night_

_Warm breeze stirring up a soft moonlight_

_And my mind started drifting to way back when_

_Yes, I do think about you_

_Every now and then_

_She's here and she's real_

_But you were, too_

_And every once in a while I think about you_

_I heard a song_

_Just yesterday_

_The same one you always asked me to play_

_And when the song was over_

_I wished they'd played it again_

_Yes, I do think about you_

_Every now and then_

**PART ONE: Serenade **

He saw her for the first time as he made his way across Hyrule Field, back towards the ranch his parents owned and operated. The torrential downpour he was currently riding through had begun while he had been in the market, doing business with merchants who sold his family's dairy products and meat in exchange for a share of the goods. His horse was moving slowly, mired in the grass which sheets of water were pounding into the earth, but he could see the shape of his home ahead when he lifted his head and squinted towards it.

"Come on, boy," he urged his mount. "I know it's rough, but the sooner we get home, the sooner we can be warm and dry—"

He stopped when he spotted a girl about his own age, perhaps nineteen or twenty, standing in the middle of the field. Just standing there. Concerned and puzzled, he pulled the stallion towards her, though the animal gave a whinny of protest at the detour, to investigate why the young woman wasn't indoors.

She stood perfectly still, her face upturned towards the sky, her palms as well open to the heavens as if offering penance. Rainwater traced the curves of all the features of her face, sparkling on her eyelashes, lingering on her parted lips, exploring paths along her rose-tinted cheeks like tears and continuing in rivulets down the creamy skin of her neck towards her collarbone. Her long, bright hair was slicked back with water, though a few rebel stands stood out like flames against her forehead. Her dress, too, was soaked through, and clung to her body. But what made her so enticing wasn't that she didn't care about the downpour raining onto her. Quite the opposite—It was that she exalted in every moment of it.

"Excuse me?" he spoke up uncertainly.

She opened her bright green eyes and turned them upon him with a smile. "Yes?" she asked in a sweet-toned voice.

"Um… Are you okay?" he asked awkwardly. "Do you need a ride somewhere or something?"

"Oh, no, thank you," she replied politely, still smiling.

"Well—Well, if you don't mind my asking… Why are you standing out here in the storm?"

"I was just taking a break," she told him mildly.

"From what?"

"Dancing."

She offered no further explanation, apparently feeling none was necessary.

"You—were dancing?" he inquired. "Out here, or…?"

"Yes," she answered serenely. "This is the best time to dance. I just can't help it," she confessed with a hint of a laugh.

"But it's raining," he pointed out slowly, knowing how obvious his statement was. "Shouldn't you be inside?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't see why."

"Well…because it's wet out," the young man said, gesturing to the world in general. "Nobody likes the rain."

Raising an eyebrow above eyes that sparkled with energy, she said, "I love the rain." She spread her arms wide and elaborated, "This is _life_ pouring out of the sky. If you listen, you can hear the heartbeat of the goddesses." She paused, tilting her face upwards again like a flower to the sun, a slight smile on her lips. "It's beautiful music."

He had never heard anyone say something so strange. But… Intrigued by the depth of her words, he closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the storm.

It was true that there was a rhythm to the steady drumming of rain against the ground, and the distant rolls of thunder that swelled out over the land. He didn't really know that it could be called music, though… Maybe…

His horse gave an impatient snort, jerking towards Roku Ranch, and he snapped his eyes open to return to the present. The girl smiled.

"I should get home," he told her. She merely nodded.

"Thank you for your concern," she added.

He now felt quite stupid for being worried about something as trivial as why she was outside in a storm, though there was no hint of sarcasm or condescension in her words.

"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "No problem."

He was about to leave when she spoke up unexpectedly.

"I'm Katma Niamey. What's your name?"

He glanced back to see her smiling at him curiously. It took him an abnormal amount of work on the part of his throat to answer her question.

"I'm Talon Roku."

She seemed pleased, not by his response in particular, but by the fact that he had given one. "Nice to meet you, Talon Roku. Maybe I'll run into you again."

"Yeah," he agreed sincerely, "I'd like that."

He didn't notice, as he continued on his way home, how the rainwater chilled him through. But he did notice the rainwater.

It rained through the night.

* * *

One week later, Talon was once again in the market doing business, but this time, it was sunny. For that reason, he took some time after trading and selling to do some shopping of his own. His life was always busy and completely structured, since his parents expected him to inherit the ranch and run it on his own, and therefore urged him to be serious about it rather than having fun. Although he was a fairly serious person by nature, he did like taking occasional moments to observe the chaos of the world that existed outside the perfect organization in which he lived.

In the middle class areas of Hyrule Castle Town closest to the main gate, chaos was not uncommon in the course of morning commerce activities. His eyes caught onto a pair of men vociferously arguing over a trade they were making; they were taking the deal so seriously that the sight was quite entertaining, and as such he didn't notice where he was going. Until he walked directly into a woman whose arms were full of groceries, and gave a start.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, stumbling backwards. Her purchases tumbled out of her bag in a shower of colours. "Oh, no…"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Talon said quickly, dropping immediately to help her pick them up and feeling his face burn in humiliation. He hoped that the passing crowd would continue to ignore them. "I didn't see you…"

"It's all right," the woman sighed in a harried voice, brushing back the slightly greying hair that was beginning to slip from its loose bun. Talon could tell that she wasn't angry with him, but merely inconvenienced. "Accidents happen."

"Here…"

"Thank you…"

The hem of a purple skirt brushed into sight as Talon handed the woman her bag of potatoes, and he froze.

"Talon Roku," said a voice that he recognized.

Slowly, he glanced up, looking into bright green eyes beneath bright red hair that he had last seen soaking wet. She looked very odd when she was dry. His brain jammed slightly.

"Oh—hi—uh…"

"Katma Niamey," she finished for him.

"Yeah," he agreed with a nod. "Hi."

"Hi."

Without another word, she knelt down and began to help the other woman pick up the things Talon had knocked from her arms.

"Oh, you don't have to do that, dear," the woman told her kindly.

Katma directed the woman a smile, said simply, "I know," and continued.

When the three of them had reorganized everything, the woman arranged her parcels comfortably in her arms and said, "Thank you very much."

"Sorry again," Talon added, still feeling embarrassed by his negligence.

"It's really no trouble," the woman assured him, and this time, it seemed she truly meant it. Looking from Katma back to the young ranch boy, she added, "That's a sweet girlfriend you have there."

Feeling the heat rise in his cheeks again, Talon stammered, "Oh, she's not—I mean…"

But the woman was already on her way, leaving him standing there with Katma, who turned a light smile in his direction.

"Thanks," he said uncomfortably, trying to give her a nonchalant smile. "But you really didn't need to do that."

"I know," she said again. "But I also had no reason not to. If everyone was only nice when they had to be…Well, then no one would really ever be nice for real," she concluded with a shrug. "On the other hand, think what would happen if everyone was nice when they didn't have to be, even just once a day, even to just one person."

As she spoke, Talon weighed what she was saying; there was no denying the truth of her words.

"I think the only reason why people sometimes don't do nice things is that they're worried what people will think of them," she went on thoughtfully. "It's kind of sad, isn't it, that people have to be worried about being judged for things like that? Or that people have to worry about being judged at all."

She paused, considering something off in the distance, her smile gone and replaced with a look of delicate contemplation. Momentarily, however, the smile returned, and she said, "Well, it was nice to see you. Maybe I'll run into you again."

He mouthed soundlessly, attempting to say that he hoped so, but the words lodged in his mouth, and so he managed only half a wave. She returned it, still wearing that smile that looked like sunlight, and began to walk away. When she had gone five steps, Talon found his voice.

"Hey—Katma!"

She turned back, bright hair swinging around her face. "Yes?"

Before he could allow himself to think better of what he was about to say, Talon blurted, "D'you…Would you like to maybe go to dinner some time or something?"

Her smile took on a quality of shyness which he wouldn't have expected to ever see on her face. "I'd like that."

Talon hoped she couldn't see how stunned he was. "Oh," he said; he had no idea what he was supposed to do next. "Well…then…" His effort at a sentence died in his throat.

Katma gave a slight laugh. "I live right there," she said, pointing towards a small white house nearby. "And I'm not doing anything tomorrow night, if you're free."

"Yeah. Absolutely."

"Great. See you at six?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." She beamed at him. "See you then."

"See you."

He watched her walk away, weaving through the crowds of people walking in straight lines.

* * *

"You're going on a date."

"Yep."

"_You _actually worked up the nerve to talk to a girl?"

"Yep."

Pause. "So…I suppose I should expect the universe to implode tomorrow morning, then."

Talon glared at his brother. "Shut up."

Jenkar grinned. "I'm just saying, I would have thought the odds of one would be about the same as the odds of the other."

"And I'm just saying, shut up."

Jenkar continued to grin, leaning back against the pillows he had propped up on his bed in the room he shared with Talon, who was at the moment getting dressed to go out with Katma. Dating was, as Jenkar had so tactfully implied, not Talon's strong suit. It was the younger of the Roku brothers who was more charming and confident, and thus more popular. It was Jenkar who had a social life, while Talon lived and worked in the shadows.

"Okay," said Talon, letting out a deep breath to calm his nerves. "How do I look?" He turned to face his brother for judgment.

Jenkar placed a hand to his heart and wiped an imaginary tear from his eye. "My big brother's all grown up!"

Talon punched him in the arm on the way out the door, though he wore a rare smile as he did so. Jenkar hopped to his feet to follow.

"So who is she?" he pressed, trailing his brother down the hall and downstairs.

"Just a girl I met in the market today," Talon answered shortly.

"Pretty?"

"Yeah. But more importantly," he added sanctimoniously, "she's _nice_."

Jenkar rolled his eyes. "Does she do charity work often? This date, for example."

Although Talon never really took his brother's insults to heart, he did wish he were better at devising comebacks. As it was, he was forced to resort to another punch in the arm.

"You know, I'm so used to having a bruise there, I wouldn't feel whole without it," Jenkar commented, rubbing the spot in question.

"Well, if you want it to go away permanently, maybe you should do likewise."

Out of respect for the occasion of the fact that Talon had actually managed to retort with clever words, Jenkar made no comment.

Neither Mr nor Mrs Roku made as big a deal about Talon's date as their youngest son. In fact, as the two boys made their way to the front door, their parents didn't move from their seats in the living room.

"What time will you be home, Talon?" his father asked.

"Later."

"Don't be out too late, though," added his mother warningly.

"I won't," Talon promised.

"And tell me all about it," Jenkar ordered, smirking.

"You wish," Talon retorted. Failing utterly to look annoyed, he closed the door in his brother's face, and only then allowed himself to laugh.

Once he had recovered himself, he mounted up and made his way to Hyrule Castle Town. He had access to the town via a pass that identified him as an owner of Roku Ranch, which he flashed to the guards posted at the drawbridge. They whistled to their peers, who knew the signal and allowed the bridge to creak down. Thanking them briefly, Talon crossed and passed his horse off to them; he was allowed into the town, but outside animals were more carefully monitored, and so the stallion would have to remain stabled at the guard post until his master returned. Patting the animal on the flanks in farewell, Talon set off on foot for Katma's house. He knew the town well enough that he was confident he could find it within five minutes.

As he knocked on the front door, worst possible scenarios careened through Talon's mind. She had overprotective relatives who hated him. She had forgotten about their date. She had lied about this being her house.

When the door opened, he managed a smile, but it wasn't Katma who stood on the threshold. It was a redheaded boy, about ten years old, who grinned up at Talon before asking bluntly, "Are you Katma's boyfriend?"

"Uh—"

"Thirad!" cried another voice in the distance; this one was female, but still not the one Talon knew. A girl who looked very much like Katma, though several years younger and with slightly darker hair, appeared in the doorway. Pulling the boy, presumably her brother, away from the doorway forcefully, she corrected, "He's not her boyfriend! He's her date!"

"Same thing," Thirad muttered.

"No—"

"All right, both of you little hell-raisers, leave the poor boy alone," laughed a third voice. A smiling blonde woman, apparently the mother of the two children, appeared. Her son and daughter fell silent and still, though visibly anticipating when they would no longer be expected to be on their best manners and could finish their fight. Addressing herself to Talon, Mrs Niamey said personably, "Katma's almost ready. Come on in. What was your name again? She told me, but I'm terrible with names."

He hadn't even said hello yet. Stepping into the entry way, he answered as though reading from a script, "Hi. I'm Talon Roku."

"Hi, Talon." Nodding towards the children, she added, "These are Katma's little brother and sister, Thirad and Anjema."

"Hi."

"Hello."

"Uh…Hi, there," Talon replied. He found that he didn't know what to do with his arms, and so held them behind his back.

Apparently the gesture looked overly stiff, because Mrs Niamey laughed, "Oh, you don't need to be so formal! Katma's father may be a soldier, but we're not a military family."

"Where would the fun in that be?"

Talon recognized that voice, and looked up to see Katma walking down the stairs. As usual, she wore a smile that could light up a room, and she looked lovely, but she didn't look as if she had gone to an abnormal amount of effort to do so.

"If we had to maintain the same rigid standards of behaviour that Dad always has to follow when he works, we wouldn't even get to breathe on our own. I think that being the children of a Royal guard gives us a healthy appreciation for our own freedom, and all that it takes to build it."

At the end of this speech, she reached the bottom of the stairs, and stood before Talon.

"Hi," she said pleasantly.

"Hi," he echoed, adding truthfully, "You look nice."

"Thanks." With a wave behind her, she said, "I guess you met my family. Well, except Dad. He's on duty tonight."

"He's a Royal guard?"

She nodded, and was about to speak when Thirad jumped in.

"I'm going to be a guard when I grow up, serving under King Churo and Queen Alea," he stated in a proudly, standing straight and tall. "Just like Dad."

"Is that so," Talon said, glancing at Katma for her response. The eldest sister merely turned her fond smile towards her brother indulgently before glancing back up at Talon.

"Once Thirad sets his mind to something, he always gets it done," she assured him, "so I'm sure that he'll become one of the greatest soldiers in Hyrule's army if that's what he really wants."

Thirad beamed; apparently his sister's endorsement was valuable.

"Oh," Talon said uncertainly. "Well, then, good luck with that, Thirad."

"Thanks."

"Shall we go?" asked Katma, waving towards the door.

"Yeah, okay."

"See you later, Katma," spoke up Anjema. Katma gave her a quick hug.

"See you later. But don't wait up!" she gave her sister a serious look. "Go to bed when Mom says, okay? Promise?"

"Promise."

"Thirad, you too."

"Promise," he muttered; it was clear he was displeased, but equally clear that he would keep his word.

Katma nodded her approval solemnly. Then she put on her smile again, waved to her siblings, and walked with Talon outside.

Glancing back, probably to make sure Anjema and Thirad weren't watching through the window, she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Talon asked, wondering if he had missed an inside joke.

"Oh, nothing," Katma assured him, waving her laughter away. "They're just so cute, that's all."

"And they really like you."

"Yeah," she admitted. "They listen to me more than Mom or Dad. I don't know why."

"Probably because they realize that if you tell them to do something, you must have a good reason," Talon told her honestly.

Katma gave a quiet chuckle.

"No, I'm serious," he insisted. "Parents never tell their kids why they should do things."

"I know, you're right," Katma agreed. "They really should, though. It makes for a relationship built on mutual respect, and that's a healthy family. Our parents know that, and they always give reasons why we should do things. So I really have no idea why Anjema and Thirad listen to me."

"Well, it must be just 'cause it's you, then, I guess," Talon suggested with a shrug.

Once more, Katma laughed. "What do you mean?"

"You're the type of person that people don't like to let down."

"You barely know me," she pointed out.

"But I know that about you."

She tilted her head at him thoughtfully, studying his face to see if he was serious. Arriving at an affirmative conclusion, she once again smiled.

"I like you," she told him candidly. "And I know I barely know you, either, but to borrow your own words, I know that about you."

Talon smiled right back, and found his steps magically lighter; he thought he had never received such a compliment.

* * *

Even the next morning, as he tended to the horses, Talon found himself inexplicably much happier than he had been in a long time. He was humming to himself, unable to keep a smile from his lips, and unable to stop thinking about the evening before. The rest of the world was outside his awareness.

"You're in a good mood," observed a dry voice.

Still grinning rather stupidly, Talon turned around and greeted his best friend. "Hey, Ingo. How's it going?"

The other boy shrugged. "It's going. But it sounds like life is good for you. Am I right?"

In answer, Talon informed him, "I found her, Ingo."

His friend raised an eyebrow. "Found…who?"

"Her. The one. The girl I'm going to marry."

Ingo gave a loud, wholehearted laugh. "Oh, really? And who would that be?"

Talon hadn't expected Ingo to take him seriously; in fact, he would have been surprised if anyone had. Unfazed, he replied, "Katma Niamey. I went on a date with her last night, and she's absolutely amazing."

Ingo folded his arms guardedly. "Are you sure you're not just thrilled because she paid you some attention?"

Talon felt his face burning slightly. It was true that he had never had a girlfriend, because, as Jenkar had reminded him the night before, he wasn't very good at talking to girls. His previous attempts at flirting had always fallen drastically short and left him utterly humiliated. More than once he had been left wishing he had been nobly enough born that he could have an arranged marriage, just so that he wouldn't have to worry about figuring that sort of thing out on his own, or else that there could be some way to ensure that he could keep the ranch within his family that didn't involve his having to settle down with a family. The obligation he knew he was under to find himself a wife had always weighed heavily on his shoulders, and though he had been able to easily brush it off as a young boy, he was feeling pressure about it as he approached twenty years.

Now that he had found Katma, though…

He grinned confidently. "If you met her, you'd know what I mean," he assured his friend. "She just makes the world a better place."

Ingo shook his head in bewilderment, a slow smile crossing his face. "You're one of a kind, Talon, you know that, don't you?"

"Of course," he agreed, still beaming.

"And she's really gotten to you already," Ingo added, raising an eyebrow judgmentally. "I mean, you're like a five-year-old having a birthday. What's wrong with you?"

Laughing, Talon clapped his friend on the shoulder and told him, "Ingo, buddy…someday you'll understand."

Ingo chuckled. "Nah, I don't think I'll ever understand you. Your brain is one of the great mysteries of all time."

"And yours is another, my man."

* * *

Over the next two years, Talon's admiration of Katma never faded. In fact, the more he learned about her, the more he became convinced that she was the perfect woman. First and foremost, she never missed an opportunity to dance in a storm.

She was also the most loving person he had ever known, she could write beautiful music off the top of her head, her kindness to all people knew no bounds, her laugh was infectious; and though she loved nothing better than the song of the rain, she found the brightness in all things, even darkness itself.

"It's so peaceful at night," she told him one evening as he walked her back to her home after dinner. "Without all the distractions of the rest of the day, all the sights and sounds and everything else, I can hear my thoughts more clearly." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out in a long sigh.

Talon watched her, smiling, enjoying her presence as much as she enjoyed every moment of her life. "You're amazing," he told her.

She opened her eyes, looking at him to see if he was serious, and gave a small laugh.

"No, really," he insisted. "No one in the world is like you."

"No one in the world is like anyone else," she pointed out. "The goddesses made us all unique. That's what makes life interesting."

"True enough," Talon admitted. "Okay, then, no one else is as wonderful as you."

Again, she laughed, but this time was blushing as well. "Oh, come on…"

"Don't be modest, it's true," Talon told her, grinning as he slid one arm around her waist. She dropped her head against his shoulder in a gesture that never failed to make his stomach flip over; his anxious reaction was more pronounced tonight, though, because he was already nervous enough. What had until now just been nerves took a sudden and dramatic leap into terror. He tried to stay relaxed, but didn't have much success. He was already on edge enough from hoping for days that this evening would be perfect. It would have been nice if it had rained.

"Aw…" Katma wrapped her arms around him and lifted her face up to kiss him on the cheek, apparently not noticing his sudden fear. "I love you."

"I—I love you, too," he choked.

It wasn't the first time he had told her so. But tonight it was different.

Her brow furrowed. "Something wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"No," Talon answered too quickly, without looking at her. He still saw the worry in her eyes, though, and felt her stand up straight.

"Talon, speak to me," she ordered him gently. "What's going on?"

They came to a halt, she facing him, he fidgeting uneasily. He had practiced this before the mirror months ago, ignoring Jenkar's intermittent taunts, but it was only recently that he had been able to actually take the idea seriously.

"My brother moved out on his own two weeks ago," he explained by way of beginning.

"Oh," said Katma slowly. "Do you miss him?"

"No, not really," Talon said, shaking his head. "That's not really my point. See, my parents decided now, because of that, that it's about time for them to leave the ranch and pass it on to me. I'm twenty-one now, I'm a fully grown man, they figure I'm ready."

"That's wonderful!" Katma gasped happily, smiling at him affectionately. "What's the problem, then? Are you worried that you aren't ready to take charge of it all?"

"No, no, of course not," Talon assured her. "I've been doing this practically since I could walk, and I've already talked to Ingo, I'm going to hire him and he's going to move into the guest room and be a ranch hand for me… No, I've got the whole thing set up and under control. No problem."

Katma frowned. "So…?"

"So," he echoed slowly, choosing his words carefully; he had rehearsed them, but suddenly his mind was blank mush. "Now that I'm going to have a home of my own…I thought…I was wondering…I mean, I was hoping…"

He paused to swallow; his mouth was very dry. Katma gave him an encouraging smile. He looked at her squarely and resolved to plough on and get through what he needed to say.

"Katma, I love you more than anything else in the world," he told her, taking from his pocket the diamond that was the only thing he'd been able to think of all night. "Will you marry me?"

To his astonishment, the smile on her face made it clear that she had been just waiting for him to ask. Without a word, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. When they separated, they were both laughing.

"So are you going to give me an answer?" he inquired curiously. "Yes or no?"

She threw her head back in further laughter, then dropped it forward again to lean against him. "Of course!"

That, Talon decided as he let out a shaky breath and rested his chin atop the hair of the woman he loved more than any other—his new fiancée—had to be the most wonderful, and terrifying, moment he had ever experienced. But it was worth all the emotions just to have her.

That night, it rained.

* * *

They were married in the fall, in a small ceremony, on an overcast day, when the curtain of clouds over the sky was as bright as the sun would have been if it had shown its face.

"It's like we're inside a pearl," Katma said fondly, sitting at the head table of the reception lunch that took place outside. "Or…it's a blank canvas." She waved a hand lazily up at the clouds. Don't you just feel like you could paint a masterpiece across the sky?"

Talon gave the lopsided grin that he only ever wore when Katma said something that convinced him yet again of how lucky he was to have her. He wore that grin quite frequently, but she still didn't recognize what it meant. She still didn't understand just how special she was.

"What?" she asked slowly when she noticed the expression, responding in kind.

Talon shook his head. "I just can't believe you."

"I don't know whether that's a compliment or an insult," Katma informed him, laughing.

"It's a compliment," he assured her.

"Oh, good," she said contentedly, giving him the kiss she knew he wanted. Even after two years, he still had troubling remembering that he could kiss her whenever he wanted. As strange as it was for him to believe, the truth was that they were married now, and that she loved him as much as he loved her.

That night, it rained.


	2. Requiem

**PART TWO: Requiem**

Married life suited Talon and Katma well; she loved the natural world so much that she took delight in working the ranch, and even the always starkly realistic Ingo was much more cheerful when she was around. Customers loved her, and Roku Ranch soon became even more prosperous than it had been before. When they weren't working, Katma and Talon kept in close touch with both of their families, as well as many of their old friends; Katma's best friend, Yrana, had been married to a man named Adat Ilam since Talon and Katma had met, and was pregnant throughout the first half of the Rokus' first year of marriage. She gave birth to a boy in the spring, and Talon found that he couldn't resist finding baby Darvin amazing when Katma spoke of the wonders of a newborn's life.

"Whenever I look at babies, I think of all that potential, in a tiny little body…" she whispered, as they watched the infant napping in his mother's arms. "Think of all the things he could grow up to do, Talon! He could be a doctor, or a priest, or just someone's very best friend. Whatever he does, the world will be a different place because he was in it. Every person makes a difference somehow… What will this one do?"

She always had a way of making the smallest details of life seem so significant, and the most profound moments seem even more monumental.

Just over a year after Talon and Katma were married, Hyrule was rocked with scandal when Prince Churo's betrothed, Alea Shakai, disappeared, and the heir to the throne announced his engagement to her sister, Delia Shakai.

Only a few months later, Talon's world was rocked when he received equally shocking news from his wife.

He had just climbed into bed, exhausted after a day's work, when Katma curled up behind him and whispered in his ear, "Guess what."

He smiled. "What?"

"I said _guess_," she giggled insistently.

"All right…" he mused, rolling over onto his back and making a thoughtful face. "Let's see…"

Apparently too impatient to wait for him, Katma flashed Talon what was quite possibly the brightest smile he had ever seen on her face, and said rapturously, "I'm pregnant."

His face was so blank with shock that her smile disappeared.

"Aren't you happy?" she asked.

Talon couldn't respond for a moment. Then he blinked, and a smile of his own crossed his face. "Yes, of course. It's just…I wasn't expecting that."

Katma relaxed, snuggling against her husband. "Isn't it wonderful?" she whispered. "We made a life. We're going to have a little baby to raise and share all our love with."

It was a nice thought, Talon agreed, to imagine a little person created out of their love who would grow up to share their passion for nature and the world. But to be solely responsible for the upbringing and well-being of another person…that was a daunting responsibility to lay on anyone's shoulders.

Could he really be a father?

It was a concern that he brought up with his own conscience more than once over the next eight months, as they eagerly prepared for the arrival of their firstborn. They had watched the Ilams go through the trials of raising a baby, and though the couple always said that Darvin was the love of their lives, they also sometimes looked more tired and stressed than Talon felt after his worst days of work.

As he and Katma picked names, set up a nursery, and wondered what their child would look and act like, he asked, in what he hoped didn't sound like too fearful a voice, if she really thought they were ready to be parents.

She smiled fondly at him and replied, "We've got a house, we've got money, we've got family and friends to help us. But most importantly, we love each other, and we will love this baby more than we could possibly imagine." Then she kissed him, to prove the point, and though his fears were not entirely alleviated, he at least felt that he could do no less than have utter faith in his wife.

Still, pacing the living room with Ingo and Adat when he knew his wife was upstairs with Yrana bringing their child into the world was agonizing. He could hear the women's voices, and occasionally his wife's screams and moans of pain. He paused every time he passed the stairs, chewing on his lips, glancing up and waiting to see someone emerge to tell him that he had a son or daughter.

"Calm down, man," Adat told him for the tenth time at least, picking up fifteen-month-old Darvin, who was whining to be held.

"I can't," Talon said shortly.

"You've got to," the other father insisted. "Okay, I can understand you're a bit nervous about this—"

Talon cut him off with a derisive laugh.

"—But I'm just talking about life in general. Breathe once in awhile, all right?"

He smiled at his anxious friend, who could only offer a tight sort of smirk in response. Adat sighed.

"Well, he's getting a bit better," Ingo muttered.

"Now would it kill you to sit down?" Adat asked, nodding towards a chair.

Talon looked at it appraisingly. "I guess not," he admitted reluctantly.

No sooner had he sank into it tensely, however, than they heard a new voice added to the noises upstairs—it was crying.

Talon jumped to his feet as if he had been burned, and was halfway to the stairs when Ingo caught him by the back of the shirt and ordered, "Wait a minute, they might not be ready for you."

The death glare Talon shot him was extremely out of character, but fortunately for both men, Yrana poked her head around the corner at that moment with a wide smile and said, "Come on upstairs, Daddy, and meet your baby girl."

"A girl…" Talon breathed in disbelief. Turning to Ingo, he beamed so widely he thought his face would crack in half. "A girl! I have a little girl!"

"Go on up and see her," Ingo told him with a faint smile, nodding upstairs.

Still grinning like an idiot, Talon charged up to the bedroom, and his wife's side.

Yrana was kneeling on the floor, swaddling the newborn and whispering soothing words to quiet her cries. Katma looked exhausted, but so purely happy that it was nearly heartbreaking to see. Her normally sunshine-bright grin was replaced by a look of euphoria that went far deeper than anything a smile could express.

"We have a daughter," she whispered.

"I know," he said, approaching her side silently. "I know… She's beautiful."

"You haven't even seen her yet," Katma pointed out with a tired sort of laugh.

"I don't need to see her to know she's beautiful."

"Well, then, I guess I don't need to give her to you, then," Yrana said, holding the bundle in her arms before them with a smile. "Here she is, Mommy."

Katma gave a quiet gasp of amazement as she took her new daughter in her arms. The baby was bright pink and puffy, she had bright red hair splayed across her head, she was wrinkly and chubby, with her face screwed up in displeasure against the brightness of the world outside…and she was without a doubt the most gorgeous sight Talon had ever had the honour of laying eyes on.

"Malon…" her mother said softly.

"Hi, Malon," Talon whispered, reaching out to tickle her small baby fingers. "Happy birthday."

They both simply stared at her for a moment in reverent silence. It was interrupted by a quiet knock on the door announcing the arrival of Ingo and Adat, who was holding Darvin by the hand.

"Knock knock… Can we come in?" he asked. Eyes sparkling, he added jokingly, "Darvin would like to meet his future bride."

Talon chuckled as Katma said fondly, "Sure, come on in and see her."

The three of them approached, Adat lifting his son into his arms so they could both see the new arrival. Darvin frowned at her in confusion.

"Aw… What's her name?" Adat asked in a whisper.

"Malon," Katma replied.

"Malon Katma Roku," Talon elaborated on impulse.

His wife looked at him with an inquisitive smile, and he shrugged.

"Here," she said, offering the baby to him, "why don't you hold her, Daddy?"

"Okay…"

Taking the baby in his arms was one of the hardest things he had ever had to do; it felt as though this single act symbolized his really taking accountability for this little girl's life. He could feel himself trembling. She was so delicate. What if he hurt her?

And then she opened her eyes, and he forgot everything else.

This, Talon decided as he looked into the wide, blue eyes of the little girl he loved more than any other—his new daughter—had to be the most wonderful, and terrifying, moment he had ever experienced. But it was worth all the emotions just to have her.

That night, it rained.

* * *

Malon's first years of life were a time of social turmoil in Hyrule. The upheavals of social order that the Shakai sisters had initiated drew attention to a volatile situation that had previously been shunted to the side because interracial fights within the kingdom occupied everyone's attention. Now, however, oppressed groups of all kinds were asserting their independence and equality in the face of the Hylian nobility; in response, anyone who had the authority to do so was flexing as much political and military clout as possible. They were fighting a losing battle, though, and they knew it. It was clear in the way that Hyrule Castle Town market was now a community open to all of Hyrule's people, in the way the people of Kakariko were organizing themselves to build a productive community in their town…and, above all, in the fact that a girl who could have been queen had rejected it all.

But in the midst of all this, Roku Ranch remained a haven of peace. It was located south of the centres of conflict, and its doors were open to any customers, and so it was as utterly free of politics as any place could be. The smiling faces of Talon, Katma, and their baby daughter were rays of sunshine in the middle of a storm. Sometimes visitors would come just to escape the tension and violence of their home neighbourhoods by watching a little redheaded girl run, laughing, through the corral.

Like Ingo, Adat and Yrana were almost a part of the family; they lived much closer to all the dramatic alterations of the world, and so they spent more and more time at the ranch with their friends to evade a situation that grew more dire every day. Darvin and Malon generally got along well and played amicably together, though occasionally one would cause the other grief; he had a tendency to be overly aggressive when he wanted something, which would often drive her to tears, and she had a tendency to find the same things funny that he found scary, such as insects or a stampede. More than once, they had to be separated, for the sake of everyone's sanity.

"They'll learn from each other," Katma said confidently, one day after they had put the babies down from their naps, leaving the five adults to their conversation. "In twenty years, they won't believe us when we tell them there was ever a time when they didn't get along."

"We can really humiliate them at their wedding," Adat pointed out with a grin. Lifting his glass in a mock toast, he said reminiscently, "To my son and my new daughter-in-law… I'll never forget the time she offered him the generous gift of a baby Skulltula she found in the barn, and he ran away screaming. That was when we all knew it was true love."

"Or was it the time he stole her teddy?" Yrana mused.

"Or stepped on her fingers," Talon added, smirking.

"Or could it have been when she got him full in the face with a fistful of mud?" concluded Ingo with a smirk of his own.

They all laughed at this memory. The cuteness of such moments lay, not in the incidents themselves, but in the fact that Malon had put the baby Skulltula back where she found it so that it wouldn't bother Darvin; that he had given her back the teddy almost right away; that he had stepped on his own fingers to make them even; and that she had helped him get the mud off of his face and clothes. In a world of pain, the selfless innocence of their children reminded them all of what they were lucky to have.

The little girl was her father's pride, joy, and purpose in life. Every time she charged towards him covered in dirt from head to toe, or showed him her latest masterpiece of scribbled artwork, or hugged and kissed him with jam-sticky fingers and lips, or fell asleep curled up in his lap with her thumb in her mouth, there was no doubt in Talon's mind that Malon was the greatest blessing the goddesses could have bestowed upon him.

As years went by, that little girl grew up—she learned to walk, then to ride; she learned to talk, then to sing. For her fifth birthday, her parents gave her a very special present.

"Now, we don't have it for you right now," Katma explained, leading her daughter into the stables by the hand as Talon followed, "but we want to show you something."

"Okay," Malon agreed eagerly, fidgeting with a strand of her hair, as was her habit when she was curious but knew that asking questions would get her nowhere.

Pointing to a chestnut brown mare in the farthest stall, Katma asked, "Do you see Emara there?"

Malon nodded.

"See how her tummy's getting big?"

Malon nodded again.

"Well, that means that she's going to have a baby."

Malon frowned. "A boy baby," she asked, "or a girl, like me?"

Talon laughed. "Not a baby like you," he told her. "A baby horse, a foal. A girl or a boy, we don't know yet."

"Oh," Malon said slowly, nodding, but still looking faintly confused. Her parents had never really explained the concept of birth to her before.

"And we thought, since you love horses so much," Katma explained, "that you could have this one for your own. When Emara has her foal, it can be your pet. What do you think of that?"

Malon's mouth fell open, and she let out a gasp of joy. "_Really_?"

"Yes, really."

Beaming, she wrapped her arms around her mother's legs, since she couldn't reach her waist. "You're the best Mommy and Daddy ever _ever_! Thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome, angel."

Four months later, a warm red filly was born, and Malon named her Epona. She doted on the young horse like a mother on her own child, and her new pet returned the affection. In fact, Epona would listen to no one else, not even her beloved mistress' parents…until Katma discovered the key to her heart: like Malon, Epona was drawn to music, and one song in particular could tame her completely.

"She's wild as the wind," Katma said, as she and Talon watched the filly gallop in wide circles around the corral, Malon at her heels, as the other horses watched them with the air of adults disdainfully witnessing the irresponsibility of youth. Leaning against her husband's shoulder, she added, "But she's got a heart of gold and the soul of a poet."

"The horse or the girl?" Talon asked, grinning.

Katma gave him a gentle slap on the arm, laughing lightly, "Both of them, of course."

By this time, Hyrule had settled into a more comfortable kingdom; in part, this was because King Otamio and Queen Xama had passed their thrones on to their son and his wife, which meant that the sovereigns of Hyrule were now King Churo and Queen Delia, and the heir was their young daughter, Princess Zelda. The six races of the nation were united under a single flag, all having the equal rights they deserved, and they were all flourishing because of it.

Both the Roku and Niamey families were flourishing as well. Talon's parents were enjoying a quiet retirement, living in a small house in Hyrule Castle Town; Jenkar remained unmarried, but was perfectly content to live out his days in bachelorhood; Katma's father, as well, was retired from the Royal guard, while Thirad had joined up, as per his goal; Anjema had moved into Kakariko, which was becoming quite a thriving little town, and begun determinedly breeding Cuccos, despite her allergies; even Ingo was as cheerful as he had ever been in his life. And all of them were delighted by the little girl at the centre of their universe; Malon was the heart and soul of a prosperous and loving family.

However, as Ingo habitually said in his more pessimistic moods, "When something's going right, it's a sure sign that something else is going wrong." In Hyrule's case, their political situation was healthy, but their people were not.

No one knew what caused the upsurge in disease, though the straggling remnants of the upper classes cynically blamed the "unwholesome mixing" of people from divers backgrounds. Whatever the cause may have been, before the age of seven, Malon lost her Grampa Roku, Uncle Jenkar, and Grampa Niamey, with Uncle Thirad and Gramma Niamey barely managing to step back from the brink.

It was ironic that, just as the world settled into the peace that Talon, Katma and their families had always known, they themselves were rocked with the loss of their loved ones. But they didn't care about the poetic aspects of their personally suffering—all they knew was how much it hurt. Even bright and beautiful Katma began to look pale and wan as the harsh reality of the world, in which she had always had so much faith, began to strike her. Yet still, she smiled, she spoke of the magic of how a tree grew and the beauty of the music laughter made. And she loved the rain.

One night, as Talon closed up the ranch and sent Malon off to bed, he found he didn't know where Katma was. He panicked only slightly, because she was a fully grown woman who could take care of herself, but he also set out looking. Fortunately, he found her almost immediately.

She was standing just outside the gates of the ranch, perfectly still, her face upturned towards the sky, her palms as well open to the heavens as if offering penance. Sunset light drenched her, evening shadows tracing the curves of all the features of her face, casting her eyelashes onto her cheeks, lingering on her parted lips, exploring paths along her rose-tinted skin like tears and continuing down the creamy skin of her neck towards her collarbone. Her long, bright hair hung behind her like a flag at half mast, drifting slightly in the breeze as though it were a current of water. Her dress, too, floated about her ankles, moving as one with the grass.

"Katma?" he whispered, approaching quietly to stand next to her and laying a hand on her shoulder. "Is something wrong?"

She looked at him with red eyes that shone with unshed tears, and the sight of them sent a dull knife of pain through his chest. She spoke in a tremulous voice.

"It never rains anymore, Talon."

* * *

It soon became clear that her ailment was not only emotional.

Though Katma would always be the last to say that anything was wrong with her, Talon could tell that she was not feeling herself. She grew tired more easily, she lost her appetite and lost weight, and she was pale and unsteady. One night, as he lay in bed next to her, he heard a noise that he didn't recognize; it took him several seconds to realize that she was quietly crying. If she wouldn't admit that she didn't feel happy, he knew, it was a sign that she truly wasn't happy, because she was always much more attuned and open with her emotions than anyone else. He drew her into her arms and held her against his heartbeat, and she allowed her tears to come.

Only a few days later, she was in the stables with Malon, listening to her daughter's chatter as they milked the cows and Talon brought in bales of hay.

"…but Darvin said that his Mommy got him a pet cat and I said I have a pet horse and he said he thought a cat was a better pet to have."

"Neither one is better," Katma told her daughter with a smile. "All animals are the goddesses' creations, and so they're all wonderful."

"I know," Malon agreed, before continuing with her story. "And that's why I told him that horses are—Mommy?"

Talon whipped around sharply, alarmed by the concern in his daughter's voice; Katma had rose from her stool and looked rather pale and dizzy. Momentarily, she merely blinked and put on a shaky smile. "I'm fine," she told her husband and daughter. "I just stood up too fast…that's all…"

But no sooner were the words out of her mouth than her eyes rolled as they fluttered closed, and Malon shrieked.

"_Mommy_!"

Talon stumbled over the hay he had been unloading to catch his wife just before she fell to the ground. His heart was thundering so hard that he could barely think straight; she was unconscious in his arms, a cold sweat beaded across her ivory forehead, against which her bright hair stood out like streaks of blood…but she was breathing, and he could see her pulse in her pale throat.

Focusing on this fact, Talon lifted her into his arms and said, trying to keep the fear out of his voice, "Malon, run and get Mr Ingo. Tell him to go bring the doctor here."

Eyes shining with tears, the little girl nodded obediently, prompting her father to add, "It'll be okay, sweetheart, Mommy's fine." He managed a smile as well, but knew Malon could tell it was false.

Still, she ran off as Talon carried Katma back to the house and up to their bedroom, where he lay her down and brushed the hair out of her face. Her skin was ice cold to the touch.

"It's okay," he whispered, though she was still unconscious; he was speaking as much to himself as to her. "It'll be okay… You're okay…"

But all he could see before him was the blank face of his own father the last time he had seen him. The day before they had buried him.

He blinked rapidly.

He couldn't have said how long it was before help arrived; it felt like an eternity as the time passed, but only a second once it was over. Ingo ran into the room followed by the doctor and calling, "He's here, Talon, what's wrong with her?" and Talon jumped to his feet instantly.

"Here," he said sharply, forcing himself to sound calm and rational. "She just…fainted for no reason."

The doctor took Talon's seat on the bed, feeling Katma's forehead, opening her eyes to look in them, peering into her mouth, measuring her pulse. The two men watched in anxiety.

"Where's Malon?" Talon asked after several agonizing minutes of silence.

"Playing with Epona," Ingo said shortly, keeping his eyes focused on Katma. "I told her to stay on the grounds and not come up here."

Talon nodded, but could think of nothing else to do.

When the doctor finished his examination, he rose to his feet and said quietly, "She's alive."

This news didn't reassure Talon; was it the only good he could find?

"And?" he asked uneasily.

The doctor shook his head sadly. "Keep her on bed rest, make sure she drinks fluids to keep her strength up…but really…there's nothing we can do."

Talon suddenly couldn't feel his body. "Wha—What do you mean?" he asked numbly, praying that what he suspected was wrong.

He could see the pain in the doctor's face as the man answered, "I'd say…six months."

"Until?" Ingo asked, because Talon couldn't coerce his mouth into forming words.

Hesitantly, the doctor clarified, "Until she's gone."

These words echoed through the emptiness that had replaced Talon's self-awareness, and he reached out for the doorframe to keep himself from falling over. Tears burned in his eyes, and he choked hoarsely, "No… She can't… I can't…and Malon… No…"

The doctor shook his head and gave a genuinely sympathetic sigh. "I'm sorry."

But Talon didn't hear him. He knew nothing except the fact that his world would only remain intact for six more months—and then half of his soul would be ripped from his body.

He felt as though he were moving through water as he made his way to her bedside, and didn't notice that Ingo and the doctor had left. The entire world was Katma, and he sat next to her and stroked her face, staring at her closed eyes.

Until finally, they slowly opened.

"Talon," she said in a weak voice, once she recognized him. "Hi." She managed a smile, but it disappeared when she took in the pain across his face. "What's wrong?"

Never in his life had Talon been so unwilling to speak. He reflected fleetingly on how difficult it had been to ask her for a date when they had been awkward teenagers. Well, really, only he had ever been awkward. And right now he would have given anything be in that moment again.

"Katma…you—"

The word strangled him, and he looked down as the world blurred before his eyes. He had to find the strength to say this. He had to.

But before he did, he heard Katma's voice, as quiet as a breath of wind, say, "I'm dying…aren't I?"

Talon nodded, and only then could he look up into her face. The sight of her, with her skin so pale, her cheeks so thin, her eyes so dull, brought the tears he had been fighting so strongly against. They wrapped each other in their arms, he with all the strength in his body, she with all the strength in her frail arms, and let themselves cry.

After several minutes, Katma said softly, "We have to tell Malon."

"Oh, goddesses," Talon sighed. "How are we supposed to tell her that she only has her Mommy for six more months?"

"Six months?" Katma repeated. "Is that what the doctor said?"

Talon nodded.

"Well, that's not so bad," she admitted fairly. "It's a good long time to get ready. And besides," she added with a smile that was but a shadow of its former sunlight self, "it's not like it's a bad thing, really. I'm going back to the goddesses."

"But you don't belong with Them," Talon objected before he could stop himself, knowing even as he did how selfish he was being. "You belong here. With me, and with Malon."

Katma glanced down. "I know," she said softly; he heard the crack in her words. "And I'll miss you with all my heart and soul. But you know I'll be watching. You know I'll love you both forever."

This was not consolation enough to Talon, however, and he knew that it would mean little to their daughter, either. Malon's innocent eyes were wide with fear as she sat on the bed between her parents and listened to them gently explaining that her mother would be going away in half a year.

"Why?" she asked, her panic barely contained. "What do you mean, going away?"

"I mean…" Talon began, but he stopped himself, unsure how to phrase the answer. Malon understood the concept of death; living on a ranch, it was something she had faced firsthand. But the death of a Cucco or another animal was nothing like the death of her mother.

"I'm going back to the goddesses," Katma explained gently, taking her daughter's hands in both of hers. "Everyone lives for awhile here in the world, and then they go back home to Them."

"To the—You mean…you're going to heaven? To the Sacred Realm?" Her eyes widened, if possible, even further. Tears shone in them as she asked, "Y-you're…you're dying?" Before either of her parents could speak, she jumped to her feet and cried, "How can you—No, you can't! You can't! How can you…you… No…"

But as she looked at them helplessly, suddenly all the strength appeared to evaporate from her body, and she crumpled onto the bed again, her face against her mother's chest, sobbing with everything within her.

The pain of the news hung heavily over the ranch. However, as usual, it was Katma's indomitable spirit that prevented them all from slipping into the depths of sorrow. Though she couldn't leave her bed, her smile also couldn't leave her face, and Talon, Ingo and especially Malon made every effort to ensure that Katma remained completely ingrained in daily life at Roku Ranch.

Malon still spent as much time as possible with her mother, curled up in bed next to Katma to talk about her day, or show her drawings, or read stories. Talon quite often stood just outside the door, listening to the magical interaction between mother and daughter. Today, it was a story, which was just reaching its conclusion.

"…and she lived happily ever after."

Talon smiled. The princess always lived happily ever after.

"Mommy, I want to be a princess," Malon said firmly, "so I can live happily ever after."

Talon smiled wider; apparently his daughter had picked up on the pattern as well.

"Oh, really?" Katma said, in a tone completely free of mockery. "Well, then, you'll have to marry a prince."

A pause followed, as Malon apparently weighed this possibility, and Talon heard the sounds of her snuggling in closer to her mother.

"No," she finally decided, "I don't want to marry a prince. I want to marry a knight."

"In shining armour?"

"Yeah."

"On a snow white stallion?"

"No!" said Malon, sounding frankly offended. "On Epona!"

"Oh, of course," said Katma, her amusement hidden. "But angel, Epona only listens to you."

"I know," Malon answered easily, "but if I'm gonna marry someone, Epona's gotta like him, too." She spoke as though such a thing were obvious; any man who loved her would have to get through Epona first.

"Well, sweetie, if you love him, I'm sure Epona will, too."

Malon went on. "And I'm gonna have a big wedding in…in a big pretty house, or maybe a temple, and I'm going to have the prettiest white dress ever…"

"Do you want to wear my dress?"

Another silence, and Talon knew that his daughter was looking at her mother in wide-eyed amazement.

"Can I really?"

"Of course," Katma answered. "The day you marry the man you love, you can wear the same dress I did the day I married the man I love."

Talon heard the quiet sound of a child's kiss against a mother's cheek. "Thank you, Mommy."

"I'll be there on your wedding day, angel," Katma said softly, and Talon knew the vow was to herself as much as to Malon.

"Really? Promise?"

"Of course promise!" she said with a small laugh. "I'll drop whatever I'm doing in the Sacred Realm, so that I can watch you get married and blow you kisses."

Talon closed his eyes and leaned against the wall with a sigh that ached from somewhere deeper than his body. Malon's wedding… Yet another moment that would be twice as painful because Katma would not be there to share it.

The moments she did share, however, lasted not six but seven months; as Katma said, she was never one to accept anything just because someone told her to. In fact, there was a small glimmer of hope in Talon's chest that perhaps his beloved wife might manage to save herself from the destiny the doctor had laid down for her. After all, her brother and her own mother had done so.

If not for the fact that he saw life hang more faintly upon her by the day, he might have entertained the idea that his hope could come true.

He was at dinner with Ingo when Malon came downstairs from Katma's room, tears threatening to overtake her at any moment, and said quickly, voice breaking, "Daddy…Mommy wants you to come upstairs."

Talon didn't allow himself to think or feel, but gave a quick glance at Ingo before he swiftly crossed the room and took his daughter in his arms as they went together to the bedroom.

Katma looked so pallid and thin when he saw her that Talon thought there couldn't be any blood left in her body; her red hair and green eyes, however, remained just as bright as they had been the first day he had met her. Malon held very close to her father, who approached the bedside with his arms around her. Katma's breathing sounded strained as she spoke, but she was still smiling.

"Talon…I just…I wanted to say that…I love you…" she reached out a frail hand towards her daughter, who carefully took it in her own, "And Malon…I love you so much…"

One tear escaped each of Malon's eyes when she blinked. "Mommy, I love you, too…"

Talon took a seat on the edge of the bed with his daughter in his lap, and placed a kiss on his wife's cold lips. When he leaned away, she didn't open her eyes, though he could still see breath moving slowly in her chest.

For a moment, the family remained still, feeling no need to speak or act.

It would have been impossible to say at exactly which instant Katma's soul left her body. But for Talon, it was when Malon buried her face against her father's chest to cry her young heart out, her normally angelic voice wrenched with grief.

"Mommy…"

This, Talon decided as he looked into the pale, empty face of the woman he loved more than any other—his wife, the mother of their daughter—had to be the most dolorous moment he could ever experience.

That night, it rained.

* * *

Losing Katma was, in essence, losing the life of the ranch. Though they all knew she was in a better place, they could feel nothing but agony, because their own lives were all but meaningless without her.

Talon's motivation to go on was almost non-existent; he could be forgiven for slipping out of his former state of wholehearted motivation by the loss of his wife, but as time passed, he never regained it. Even Ingo, who had been more cheerful during the years he had lived and worked with Talon and Katma than ever before, felt her absence personally; he receded into a shadow of gruff ill-temperament, isolated from anyone and refusing to admit he cared about anything. The Ilams lost touch with the Rokus, and in fact the ranch, newly named Lon Lon after the father and daughter who owned it, lost the aura it had once had, of a beacon of joy.

It was Malon who, while she was initially more grief-stricken than either of the other two, recovered into a whole and healthy person most quickly. Though she spent her first days without a mother for the most part alone, crying in her room, looking at every picture she had ever drawn, rereading every story she had ever heard her mother's voice tell, she soon came to accept Katma's loss with the true and infinite wisdom of a child.

The first time Talon saw her outside again, standing with Epona, he was heartened by her admirable mastery of her pain. But when he heard the song she was casting out into the air, he felt she had ripped his heart from his body a second time.

She gave him a smile like sunshine when she saw him, and said in a sweet-toned voice, "Hi, Daddy. Are you still sad?"

Talon opened his mouth, but merely nodded. He didn't trust himself to speak.

"Don't be," she told him simply. "Mommy's okay."

Malon couldn't have known how much her very life hurt both Talon and Ingo to see. To watch anyone go through the world with the same light which Katma had always inspired in everyone she met only reminded the two men of what the world had lost; Malon's every move, every smile, every breath, every laugh brought Katma's ghost to the front of their memories…but it was of course her song, a melody caught in a storm, that was the most beautiful and heart-rending sound they could imagine. Talon hoped she never stopped singing it, and never forgot the woman who had given life not only to her but to him.

What Katma had left inside him, the seed which she had planted, was a love of the world and all things in it. Until the loss of her had irreparably shaken to the roots his hope and faith in everything.

Still, he remembered what the world had once been in his eyes—he saw her dancing—he heard her singing—every time it rained.

_She's here and she's real_

_But you were, too_

_And every once in a while I think about you_

_I've been layin' here all night_

_Listenin' to the rain_

_Talkin' to my heart and tryin' to explain_

_Why sometimes I catch myself_

_Wondering what might have been_

_Yes, I do think about you_

_Every now and then_

_Every now and then_


End file.
